Art for healing

Born in the USA to a Gujarati mother and having lived in New York for ten years where she studied art therapy, Krupa came to India eight years ago and traveled to over 80 places, seeking to reconnect with her roots and to manifest her dream in a place where it would have maximum impact. Auroville was one of the stops, and it triggered sensitivity in her to the gaps in society. She also personally perceived hierarchy of caste and gender, and saw room for addressing these through art. She started to volunteer at Thamarai and like many others who begin an adventure by following their passion, Krupa stayed in Auroville. Driven by her own journey as a child using art to allow her to escape and imagine an alternative reality, Krupa continues to delve into art as an intimate space for reflection and growth. In Auroville, her vision is to share this with as many others as she possibly can.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience. In the US, during a specific artist residency of the University of Delaware, she worked with hundreds of students in a school, in various departments, as well as with the staff, families, and children of a children’s hospitals, to promote art as healing therapy. She has also presented art therapy in a TEDx talk on the subject. In her experience, art therapy is a unique experience, where creative art such as painting or drawing helps to increase the emotional well-being and the mental state of people and patients as well as their coping skills.

Sankalpa

Sankalpa is a powerful Sanskrit word meaning intention, affirmation, resolution, determination and willpower. Krupa chose this word specifically to help her find the continued strength to establish and evolve this vision despite all obstacles. Started by Krupa eight years ago, Sankalpa is now a sub-unit of Thamarai.

Krupa and Sankalpa are most widely known in Auroville for the ‘Art Cart’ a traveling mobile cart which has art supplies and invites people to create together. The Art Cart is parked most of the time in the Visitor Centre’s Zephyr Café. It is a form of outreach that facilitates a space to meet in a common language.

Sankalpa also has an Art Centre located in the International Zone. The materialization of a vision that Krupa had during a particularly insightful meditation, it has taken her eight years to manifest it. She hopes that it will bring people together through art. In her centre, Krupa and students facilitate workshops in art therapy, art and yoga, and mandala drawing with intentional affirmations.

Deeper art work is also done with children and adults who have experienced trauma and Krupa also trains parents and teachers in art therapy. To promote social healing practices, Krupa emphasizes the importance of spaces in Auroville that are safe for artists to express themselves without fear of judgment. “Sankalpa is perceived as arts and crafts but in fact it’s a space where anyone can come and discover their own artistic voice and feel confident about their expression,” she says. “In many cultures, people are also conditioned to believe what’s right and wrong, and we are here to say that there is no such thing.”

Another partner in Krupa’s adventure is in Kuilapalayam and is called ‘MindVISA’, an exchange program for students that encourages peer-to-peer learning and where Krupa holds art sessions. Throughout the program, participants use structured dialogues, games and activities in art, music, dance and theatre as a way to increase self-awareness, confidence and under-standing.

Krupa shares that more and more Aurovilians are interested and involved. Children with behavioral issues are an important part of her work in Auroville, and she associates more and more with Auroville Village Action Group and The Learning Community (TLC), where art and play in a collective maize not only gives a sense of building capacity and develops mastery, concentration and fine motor skills, but also works to reflect on challenges, solutions, and collaborative interaction. She says, “Although I also see self-doubt and fear in creating anything at all, over extended periods of work self-esteem and sense of self-worth and mastery increases. Generally, towards the end of a session, I see relief and calmness, catharsis, pride and increased self-awareness.”

Art as outreach

Artists often struggle with credibility but Sankalpa’s work with trauma-informed therapy acknowledges that there is a sensitive way to hold space for any kind of hardships that people may have lived. Working with children and women and using art as a tool to cope with reality by externalizing emotions has its clear advantages and is very rewarding. However, Krupa shares that she sometimes feels overwhelmed and has to leave particular exhibits “because the training I have received sometimes allows me to access unimaginable layers of information beneath and woven into each piece of art.”

Staying true to her roots, here in India she focuses on using indigenous art forms by working with local and natural materials, while sharing the therapeutic value of henna, kolam, embroidery and mandala patterns. This is therapeutic and especially relevant when connecting with local people and within this area’s cultural context. In Thamarai one of the projects was to get local children acquainted with primary and secondary colours in their environment, for example food, animals, plants, patterns, as well as imaginary visions. Other examples include decorating discarded CDs with glitter, feathers, and other shiny treasures, painting of prayer flags, and drawing of mandalas. Krupa shares that one of the most profound experiences she has had with creating safe spaces of expression is when a young Tamil girl who participated in a doll-making workshop wanted to join the Sankalpa project. This was a clear message that she internalised the impact of the empowerment that she received through the healing process. “In the local community just the acknowledgement that there is a safe space and that there is a willingness to share the difficulties that people go through is an indication that although a characteristic of the local community is resilience, there is also space for something else,” she says.

Another memory she recalls with fondness was a project with the Life Education Centre, where local women painted their entire life stories on their sarees that they then wore. It was very powerful. Followed by a guided meditation session, 12 women expressed their new year intentions (sankalpas), dreams and wishes with fabric paint. Some of the sankalpas included hopes for education and learning opportunities, as well as vocational opportunities in sewing, and hopes for independence in mobility by, for example, learning how to drive a motorbike.

In the context of Auroville and the bioregion, Krupa explains that “art also acts as a bridge between people by creating a common language, weaving cultures together and embodying creativity. Especially when women and children are inhibited by a lack of self-confidence in their creativity it becomes vital to allow them a space where there is freedom to express their ideas that are often not expressed in words. It is an extremely useful tool for externalising realities and has been used for a long time. Sri Aurobindo guides our understanding that art is a physical expression of inner truth and wider consciousness.”

To view videos, images, read more and join programmes visit: www.sankalpajourneys.com.